Spotlight- Hope Solo

Hope Amelia Solo is a goalkeeper for the US national women’s soccer team, two time Olympic gold medalist, and World Cup champion. She has been playing soccer all her life and was the goalkeeper for the United States Women’s Soccer Team for 17 years (2000-2016). Born on July 30, 1981, Solo has loved soccer since she was little and at age 12, wrote a paper expressing herself. Hope wrote about how she wanted to become a professional soccer player; however, back then it wasn’t likely. At Richland High School, she was on the soccer team and played forward. During her high school season, she scored 109 goals and was crowned All-American by Parade magazines twice. After high school, she attended Washington University, where she changed from forward to goalkeeper. This was one of the best decisions of her life because it bought her a career, awards, and titles. During college, Solo dominated the Pacific 10 conference, received the NSCAA All-American honors, received the Hermann Award as a senior, and is Washington University’s leader in saves and shutouts.

After College, Hope Solo joined the US National Women’s Team. Her first years, she didn’t play much, but in 2005, got her chance to shine and became the team’s top goalkeeper. She played 1,054 minutes that year and was a major help to the team. However, in the 2007 World Cup, Solo was benched in the semifinals against Brazil. They lost and Solo spoke her mind about the defeat. In an interview with NBC Sports, she said, “It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves.” After that, she was suspended off the team for the rest of the competition.

The following year, Hope Solo rejoined the team and helped them win two Olympic medals. Solo pushed her team to keep up the effort, and she received the Golden Glove Award for her work. Before the 2012 Olympics, she ran into trouble and was tested positive for the banned drug, diuretic. Solo explained that she didn’t know the drug was banned and it was given to her by her doctor. With help of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, she could play in the Olympics, and their team won the gold medal. The 2012 Olympics marked the fourth out of five the American Women’s team has won since it was created in 1996. Solo went on and played in the 2016 Rio Olympics and was awarded her 200th career cap.

However, when their team lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals, she was criticized for her work and said that the best team had lost today. Hope Solo also claimed that the opponents were a “bunch of cowards” for how they played. This cause Solo to be suspended for six months as of August 24. She played on the U.S. Women’s Nation Soccer Team and it has been her passion, life, and job.

Off the field, Hope Solo showed another side of herself. She competed on Dancing With the Stars, and surprisingly made it to the semifinals of Season 13. She also published an autobiography with Ann Killion in 2012. Around this time, Solo also started dating Jerramy Stevens and two months later they got engaged. However, the night before they were going to plan their wedding, Jerramy got arrested for assault and physical altercations. But, he was released shortly after because the Kirkland Municipal Court lacked evidence. Solo has also been charged and arrested in her lifetime for domestic violence which caused her to get suspended from the U.S. National Soccer Team.

Although Solo has done some illegal things in her life, she is also a skilled soccer player that led her team to many wins. Hope Solo has stopped many goals which has led her to become an Olympic Gold Medalist, World Cup Champion, and the goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.via